Which brings us back to the topic of private cloud storage. I’ve been looking for alternatives to DropBox but something that can’t be eavesdropped. Just because there are plenty of publicly-accessible information, it doesn’t mean I have to open the kimono, so to speak. I found a number of alternatives, however I didn’t find any of them compelling.

These features are what makes me fond of DropBox and are the primary features that I’m looking for in my quest for alternatives:

Fast, as least as far as laptops are concerned, because primary I/O happens locally while the DropBox app quietly syncs your files through the Internet.

Works offline, it really is just a normal folder in many respects; useful when traveling and you’ll need to get something done on the road.

Able to share folders remotely, without needing a LAN or even a VPN connection with the other computer.

Works with existing apps, great for ad-hoc file sharing. Unlike iCloud which requires apps to be specially programmed to support it and can’t share arbitrary files. Granted, this generally does not apply for iOS.

However these are my primary gripes against DropBox:

Privacy – (some) people in DropBox will be able to access your files without you knowing, and there has been a leakage where some accounts were exposed.

Candidates

Own Cloud

I found OwnCloud (version 5) to be too slow to be workable. I’ve tried to sync a set of 200MB files locally over ethernet, but it didn’t finish overnight. Granted I ran it on a less-than-ideal setup – a low-power CubieBoard that hosts the web server with the files hosted in a WD Live NAS via SMB. But if eight hours wasn’t enough to sync locally, I’d imagine performance over the Internet is going to be a lot worse.

On a side note, I recall reading somewhere that OwnCloud 5 fires eight SQL queries per file uploaded. So this could be the primary cause why the sync was too slow. Those set of files I’ve tried to sync initially are really a collection of many small files – primarily documents and source code.

SparkleShare

This git-based personal cloud alternative was interesting. I got SparkleShare setup on the CubieBoard even with HTTPS. Then I found out that it doesn’t support HTTP proxy. Moreover SparkleShare handling of HTTP password was poor – the password needs to be embedded in the URL thus it shows up in log files. It doesn’t even use the OS X keychain for storing this sensitive information.

AeroFS

ASUS’ AiCloud

Similar to AeroFS’ , AiCloud couldn’t install and work correctly in my Mac. So it’s immediately disqualified.

File Transporter

On the surface, Connected Data’s File Transporter looks like the best option. However they wont ship to Singapore, as of this writing. Furthermore I do have power consumption concerns, since it’s yet another gizmo that needs to be run 24×7 which could impact our flat’s electricity bill – wondering whether it’s worth it for something that has a low average utilization rate. We’re already running a wireless router and a WD MyBook Live NAS.

However DevonThink only works with files that are “documents” don’t really fit with things software project files or even git repositories. Admirably DropBox works pretty well syncing git repositories, as long as if you restrict yourself to committing only from one machine. Then again, DevonThink wasn’t really made for keeping source code projects.

So I’ll close with a question: what personal cloud solutions do you recommend? Are you experiencing similar problems as me? What would you wish to have? (I do came across an idea of coming up with an app ourselves to tackle this issue – but we’d like to have your opinion first).

Related

And how about WD Mybook Live own syncfunction? Or rsync installed on WD MBL?

basilsalad

WD MyBook Live has a folder sync function? I’m not aware of that. At least the one we have doesn’t seem to have that feature; it’s the black 3TB model bought in the middle of 2012. As for rsync, getting it to work through HTTP would be quite a challenge, with proxy support and eventually HTTPS. Not to mention I’ll need to invoke sync periodically somehow (and naïvely schedule it without paying attention to file system & network availability events could have an impact to battery life).

Free Updates!

Apple, the Apple logo, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, and Mac OS X are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
All products mentioned on this Web site are owned and copyrighted by their respective companies.
View our privacy policy.